Mystery Author of the Month, Suzanne Adair

           

       Suzanne Adair

I'd like to welcome Suzanne, who has an announcement to make. She will give away one copy of A Hostage to Heritage to someone who contributes a comment on her post this week. The winner will be chosen from among those who comment by Saturday, July 13th, at 8:30 a.m. ET and he or she may select paperback or electronic format. Delivery in the U.S. and Canada is available. Please be sure we have your email address. Now, let's see what Suzanne has to say in response to my questions.

Patricia: Suzanne, where did you grow up? Did your childhood contribute to your desire to be a writer?

Suzanne: I was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and I’ve been interested in the Revolutionary War since I was a child. Often I heard the mistaken notions of tourists and residents that Florida’s history started with railroad barons Flagler and Plant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. St. Augustine, Florida, founded by the Spaniards decades before Jamestown, Virginia, is the oldest European settlement in the United States. During the Revolutionary War, St. Augustine was a major base for the British. This information isn’t highlighted in most American History texts. That never seemed fair to me, and I wished for a way to make Florida’s history appealing and accessible to people.

In 1999, while I was visiting St. Simons Island, Georgia, conducting research for a manuscript in a contemporary paranormal mystery series (unpublished), I toured the ruins of Ft. Frederica, built in the 1730s to help Britain keep the Spaniards in Florida out of Britain’s colonies. Redcoats in Georgia? I remembered then that Georgia was the thirteenth colony. So why were all the stories about the Revolutionary War set in the Northern theater? Why hadn’t someone written an adventure to show the importance of the Southern colonies and territories? By four months later, I’d abandoned the contemporary paranormal manuscript and begun writing Paper Woman, first book in my “Mysteries of the American Revolution” trilogy. 

So I set a portion of Paper Woman in St. Augustine and northeast Florida. I must have made Florida’s history appealing and accessible to people, because the book received the Patrick D. Smith Literature award from the Florida Historical Society. My fifth book set during the Southern theater was released at the end of April 2013.

    

Patricia: Where do you live now? Do you use that locale for settings in your novels?

Suzanne: I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Raleigh came into existence right after the Revolutionary War. Thus 18th-century Raleigh isn’t an inspiration for any novels in this series. However Raleigh contains several houses that date from the Revolutionary period. More importantly, a number of colonial-era municipalities and battle sites in North Carolina are within an easy day’s travel from Raleigh. To name a few: Wilmington, New Bern, Hillsborough, and the battle sites at Moore’s Creek Bridge, Guilford Courthouse, House in the Horseshoe, and Alamance.

A Hostage to Heritage takes place in Wilmington and the surrounding area and references the battles at Moore’s Creek Bridge and Guilford Courthouse. Regulated for Murder, my fourth book and the first in the Michael Stoddard series, is set in Wilmington and Hillsborough and references the Battle of Alamance. Camp Follower, third book in my “Mysteries of the American Revolution” trilogy, opens in Wilmington.

While researching for Camp Follower, I learned that the British successfully occupied Wilmington for almost all of 1781, stymieing the Continental Army’s movements in the Southern theater and effectively prolonging the war an entire year. This fact isn’t covered in most Americans’ history classes. (We receive the selective history of the “winners.”) The events of 1781 associated with the Eighty-Second Regiment in North Carolina are a rich source of plot ideas for any writer of historical crime fiction: battles, intrigues, desertions, double-crosses, desperate strategies, and so forth. Thus I decided to bring the year 1781 in North Carolina to life in the Michael Stoddard thrillers.

Patricia: What inspired you to write your most recent novel?

Suzanne: A big sub-plot in A Hostage to Heritage deals with child soldiers, an issue that’s plagued humans throughout history. 

I also wanted to explore how a detective who didn’t have access to modern technology and forensics would deal effectively with a hostage situation. The clock was ticking on the victim’s life. How would the detective and abductors communicate and negotiate without a telephone? What techniques would the detective use to track down the criminals?

In addition, I enjoy bringing to life historical details and events that my research uncovers.

And, of course, A Hostage to Heritage, along with Regulated for Murder, represents my efforts thus far at showing the strategic importance of North Carolina during the American Revolution.

Here’s a short description of A Hostage to Heritage: A Michael Stoddard American Revolution Thriller:

A boy kidnapped for ransom. And a madman who didn't bargain on Michael Stoddard's tenacity.

Spring 1781. The American Revolution enters its seventh grueling year. In Wilmington, North Carolina, redcoat investigator Lieutenant Michael Stoddard expects to round up two miscreants before Lord Cornwallis's army arrives for supplies. But his quarries' trail crosses with that of a criminal who has abducted a high-profile English heir. Michael's efforts to track down the boy plunge him into a twilight of terror from radical insurrectionists, whiskey smugglers, and snarled secrets out of his own past in Yorkshire.

Patricia: When did you “know” that you wanted to be a writer?

Suzanne: In second grade, I experienced my first hurricane. The fury of nature made quite an impression on me. About a month later, I contracted the mumps and was quarantined at home for a week or so. I didn’t feel sick, and I quickly ran out of books to read and things to do. Then I got my hands on a pencil and some paper. The combination of being extremely bored and having something to write about was all the permission my imagination needed to launch my writing career.

Patricia: Name three of your favorite authors in the mystery/suspense genre. What makes them  your favorites?

Suzanne: Ellis Peters created her medieval sleuth, Brother Cadfael, as a sympathetic protagonist who was smart enough to solve a fictional murder without needing modern forensics. Robert Louis Stevenson and Daphne du Maurier showed me how high adventure and suspense can be woven together to take the reader on a breathless, wild ride.

Bio:

Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in a two hundred-year-old city at the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont, named for an English explorer who was beheaded. Her suspense and thrillers transport readers to the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, hiking, and spending time with her family. A Hostage to Heritage, her second Michael Stoddard American Revolution thriller, was released April 2013, and is currently a five-star book on Amazon.

Purchase links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Suzanne-Adair/e/B003WH8Q36/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/suzanne-adair?store=ebook& keyword=suzanne+adair

Smashwords (Apple, Sony, Kobo): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/suzanneadair

Blog and social media links:

Blog: http://www.SuzanneAdair.typepad.com

Quarterly electronic newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/Suzanne-Adair-News

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Suzanne.Adair.Author

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Suzanne_Adair

Suzanne has emailed me with the name of the winner. Marja McGraw will receive a copy of "A Hostage to Heritage." Congratulations, Marja!

Getting to know mystery author, J.L. Greger

Janet with her dog, Bug

 

Janet, I'm pleased to have you visiting with us today.

 

Patricia: Tell us, what are your favorite things to do when you’re not reading or writing?

Janet: I love to travel to new places. No that’s not right. I like to revisit places too, as long as they’re interesting. What make a place interesting to me? First off, places that were forbidden, at least at one time, - like China, Russia, Lebanon, Cuba. Maybe I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Second, places where important history occurred and in some cases is still occurring, i.e. London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Boston, and my all time favorite Washington, D.C. Third places with unique “culture” and great food, such as the south of France, New Orleans, Charleston in South Carolina, Santa Fe, the Maine coast. My lists often overlap.

The problem is the other thing I like to do most is spend time with my dog Bug. We walk a lot and do pet therapy in the pediatrics wards at UNM Hospital and at the VA hospital in Albuquerque. While Bug travels well on airplanes (under my seat) and in the car, he can’t do international travel. Thus I’ve done less traveling during the last few years and more cooking, which is my third most fun thing to do. Maybe that’s why I called my second mystery/suspense novel Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight.

Patricia: What’s you favorite color? Why?

Janet: Warm pastels, especially pale yellow. I like warm cozy colors that aren’t brassy or pushy.

Patricia: How would you describe yourself, personality wise?

Janet: An introvert who learned to speak up.

Patricia: You've mentioned that you love to travel. Please name three of the most interesting places you've visited.

Janet: Three of my most interesting trips were done as a consultant on science and education issues. I visited the Marshall Islands (to assess safety issues near former H bomb test sites) and Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi in the Untied Arab Emirates and American University of Beirut in Lebanon (to help develop university and research infrastructure). I guess Lebanon was the best – archaeological sites that are over three thousand years old, the best of Middle Eastern cuisine, and a will to survive among the people. If the factions in Lebanon stopped fighting, I think Beirut would quickly become one of the top tourist cities in the world.

Patricia: How would you complete this sentence? If I won a million dollars, I would. . .   

 

Janet: probably not live much differently. Perhaps I’d hire someone to stay with Bug when I traveled and/or hire an agent to do much of the publicity on my books Coming Flu, Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight, and a third in this series of medical mystery/suspense novels which will be partially set in Bolivia. (Yes I have traveled there.)

Bio: J.L. Greger, as a biologist and professor emerita of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, enjoys putting tidbits of science into her novels. In Coming Flu (published by Oak Tree Press in 2012), epidemiologist Sara Almquist is trying to stop two killers:  the Philippine flu, which is rapidly wiping out everyone in a walled community in New Mexico, and a drug kingpin determined to break out of the quarantined enclave. In Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight (published by Oak Tree Press in April 2013) Linda Almquist, Sara's sister, is scrutinizing two "diet doctors" for recklessly endangering the lives of their obese research subjects. Soon she finds her research entwined with a police investigation of the murder of one of the diet doctors.

JL included Bug, her Japanese Chin dog, as a character in all three of her novels. To learn more, visit her website: www.jlgreger.com or her blog at www.jlgregerblog.blogspot.com.

Amazon sell tag line for Coming Flu: www.amazon.com/Coming-Flu-J-L-Greger/dp/1610090985/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363872699&sr=1-1&keywords=Coming+Flu

Amazon sell tag line for Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight: http://www.amazon.com/Murder-New-Way LoseWeight/dp/1610090624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365534310&sr=1-1&keywords=Murder+A+New+Way+to+Lose+Weight

Reading A Mystery Series

I recently had the privilege of participating in the “Ohioana Book Festival” at the main library in downtown Cincinnati, an event to honor local writers. I was thrilled to have been invited.

As I stood in line to sign in and get my name badge, one of the librarians looked up and said, “Oh, Patricia. I read both of your books and I loved them!” Music to an author’s ears! My smile was as wide as the state of Ohio. It doesn’t get much better than that. Later that afternoon, we had an opportunity to talk for a few minutes and she told me, “The only thing I wish is that I’d read them in order.” Apparently, she read Unfinished Business before reading Mixed Messages.

I knew exactly what she meant. I love to read a mystery series from the beginning because it isn’t just about an intriguing plot for me; it’s about the lives of the characters. In a series, we get to know the characters and care about what happens to them. I always want to know what happens to them next. 

But, sometimes, it doesn’t work that way. Sometimes, a book by an author I've never read will attract my attention (it's often a new release) and I'll order it and read it. If I really, really like the book and want to spend more time with the characters, I then go back and read the whole series, starting with the first book. Here are two recent examples:

I read Old Murders Never Die by Marja McGraw and I loved it. So, I went back to the beginning and read the four novels that preceded it and I'm so glad I did. What a great series! A Well-Kept Family Secret is the first book in Ms. McGraw’s Sandi Webster Mystery Series for those of you who would like to start with Book One.

Another example: The Rocky Bluff PD series by F.M. Meredith. After reading No Bells, the eighth book in the series, I knew I wanted to read all of her books. I read Final Respects, book one, and went on to read the other novels. I recently learned that Ms. Meredith is working on the tenth book and I can hardly wait to read it.

If you’d like to read my mystery series from the beginning (I’m working on the third book now), I’m offering a chance to win a paper copy of Mixed Messages to someone who leaves a comment on this post. Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. Happy Reading!
And the winner is Sharon Arthur Moore!